Asked by an uncle whether he would risk his life in the operations, Colonel Thomas, who became the CO of the 45 Rashtriya Rifles unit a little over a year ago, had replied that he would do anything to protect his jawans.
In the early hours of August 22, Colonel Thomas and his Quick Reaction Team killed two terrorists during combing operations in the Machhal sector of Kashmir. Though injured in the first gunbattle, the Colonel decided to push on with the operation. “Inspite of the injury, Colonel Thomas continued the search in the dense forested area and again established contact with the terrorists. This resulted in the death of two more terrorists. However, he too suffered fatal injuries in the fresh firefight and succumbed,” a Defence Ministry release said.
Inspired to join the Army by his father who served with the EME in Secunderabad, Colonel Thomas was described as a “motivated, strong-willed, go-getter type of person” by family friend and retired Army officer Colonel T K Jacob.
According to his family friends, Colonel Thomas was among a handful of men from the small Canaan Jacobite community from Kerala to have served in the Indian Army. A native of Thiruvalla in Kerala, Jojan was settled in Bangalore.
The short visit home two weeks ago was to see his 18-year-old daughter, Meghana, who returned from a pilot training course in the Philippines. Colonel Thomas also has a 10-year-old son, Silumon, who his father hoped would aspire to be in the Army, family members said. The funeral is scheduled for Monday.
(With inputs from ENS, Thiruvananthapuram)
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